A Valles based corporation, who’s main corporate offices in the Fenard building in Marfos city were targeted in a devastating attack that destroyed the entire tower they were housed in, killing 375 in the building, including non-sandstone employees and countless other hapless lower-class citizens who’s homes were below the structure. It is fairly likely that Sister Maynar is responsible for these attacks.

The contract that included the black ops mission to Kolono was part of something called Operation Blackfriar. According to the dossier, Sister Maynar was referred to as Ms. Danforth; and was an agent of the Baronial Privy Council. After the attack on Kurlou City, this story started to unravel. Zaniel thinks it is far more likely that she worked for the Rok’kannon Corp, but even that is suspect. The initial confirmation from the Privy Council turned out to be erroneous – though the money paid was genuine. They just didn’t get to spend much of it. Zaniel reckons that given the current situation the Baronial Exchequer probably seized all of Sandstone’s accounts – or is in a fight with the Guild to do so.

Ms. Danforth paid Sandstone in kronotium ingots. Fairly rare and fairly expensive. They are found on Valles and generally associated with religious relics.

Sandstone had two helicopters: a larger troop transport, and a smaller missile/gun platform. The troop transport was reduced to shredded metal in the attack at Kurlou City. The attack ship was supporting a mission for the Baronial Navy when the Marfos City bombing happened. The Baronial Navy took over the contract/lease. Both were leased from the Ares Corporation, an off-world (out of system) military contractor and arms manufacturing (mega) corp.

It is likely that there might be one remaining Sandstone contractor alive who was involved in Operation Blackfriar. Hibiscus Shrude was a Communications Tech. Prior to the mission she took ill: some sort of virus she had contracted on previous mission to Basuki. She was replaced day of the mission. Last known address was in Ervinbluff, a mid-sized city between Port Horwold and Marfos City. She was an experienced operative and likely went to ground following the bombing of the Fenard Building.

Valles based crime lord. Extremely successful. Could provide us with gate keys.

Mr. Eullent will furnish us with a Caliban-Arachnae Solaris jump key if we can eliminate Sister Maynar. Preferred proof is target’s head delivered in a bag.

Possible next steps

1. Travel to Ervinbluff as quietly as possible and try to locate Hibiscus Shrude, the only living person who can tell us more about Operation Blackfriar. Especially important because Sister Maynar will likely be hunting her if she knows of her survival.

2. In general, find out as much as we can about Operation Blackfriar.

3. Locate records related to the use of the attack ship by the Baronial Navy in an effort to determine if Sister Maynar is still using it, i.e. working with the Navy.

4. Attempt to trace any use of Kronotium ingots. A rare currency that could reveal the location of Sister Maynar.

5. Travel to Kurlou City and look for any clues as to Maynar’s involvement and current whereabouts.

Khiron’s contact in the Valles underworld. Tace works for Mr Arioch, one of the Big Three, a crime boss just under criminal mastermind Mr Eullent.

Eldaar: Strictly speaking, they are non-human. They are an old race in the Empire. Kindlenomicon references the Eldaar as the source of corruption (note: not source of Unlife). At one point in time, the Eldaar opposed the Unlife but something happened in the past. They are scattered all over the Empire and often act as ‘agents’ of the Royal Houses.

Thorne’s notes on the Eldaar from the Kindlenomicon:
The Eldaar once opposed the unlife, and possibly still do, but have been corrupted. Possibly through prolonged contact with their foes or through the ruthlessness required to oppose such entities. Either way, their corrupt influence has spread through the halls of power in the Empire; specifically the Church Celestial, the Emperor and the Noble houses have all fallen under their sway. This makes them responsible for the enforced religious anti-technology stance the Empire has taken.

The previous owner of the kindlenomicon, the “architect,” was trying to obtain something called the Dark Key which would open a corresponding gate, through which the “enemies of the Eldaar” would flow forth, ending their corruption. What the gate, the key and the “enemies” are need to be determined.

Blue ‘Jade’

The substance that is essentially the impetus of project Blackfriar. We know remarkably little about it. At least in context of the Church’s recent actions. We know that it acts as a psionic amplifier.

What we don’t know:
1. Why the church wants it, now, all of a sudden.
2. What, actually, it is, not just what it does. What are it’s origins, why is it psionically active, etc.
3. Where it occurs. Does it only ‘grow’ on Valles? Why or why not?

Was Blackfriar all about Blue Jade, and if so, why did that need to be covered up? What possible goal could be worth destroying an entire corporation to conceal?

Caitlyn's vlog

Add useful info here, after everyone’s cleaned up and no longer smells of dead planets and holo-suite Arabian Nights.

Back. It is still jarring after all of these months to see Carter’s cabin. All of his things just so, his clothes creased and folded in that frustratingly anal retentive precise manner of his. I still marvel that just across the veil of reality – there he is. Perhaps looking into a similar cabin and wondering about odds and probability. After all, he died so long ago, yet here he was, my doppelgänger in so many ways. Makes me want to go back to the Academy days to recreate some of those chem experiments in retro-psychedelism.

Enough melancholy. Here we are back in the clean. I can actually take off the skin suit and put on some real cotton shorts, fire up a late and think about what the hell we just went through – new worlds, strange cultures represented by the odd distaff jumbled in a cosmic shed, with an immersive story mode theater (or a reality projection chamber which is far to disturbing to contemplate on any significant level).

Last I remember from the theater is we were meandering through the bowels of some Lovecraftian RPG book adventure, we had defeated… the captain? And then we found…. stones and then…… nothing. Back in the shed. Getting mindfucked is not high on my list of positive outcomes. I hope there are no lasting effects from… whatever happened.

Whatever. Lightsaber goddess chick was back to Thorne, who was unsure what to do with the samurai armor and energy sword. N8 at least is back to a proper Combatron fascade instead of the whirling rock dervish. I will admit though, the ability to channel magic and reality according to the rules of story land was… rather intoxicating.

We emerged not only restored to normalcy but also bearing three stones. On examination they were determined to be magical artifacts, which naturally means to my scanners they were inert carbon-silicates. This is where I should flounce in some way. lets out an audible sigh

The stones are a vantablack thing called the soul of chaos. The next is a ‘whorlstone’ (seen by some on their native Altimere – now that sounds an interesting place for a plasma rifle and a psycho-anthropologist) called the mind of balance. Finally there was the Stone of harmony which Khiron turned into a flashlight.

The biggest sad bit about leaving the shed was our inability to take the EZPort with us. I imagine such a thing could come in use in the future. It stayed behind so we could return to Chofa and confront the possessed flora.

Oh! Before I forget, I need to make certain Janet uploads the images of the portraits to the wiki. The odds that Aldemeri gods would appear in the cosmic storage shed is…. Who am I kidding? A veritable certainty at this point.

Back to Chofa. The ghosts wanted us to complete a ritual to release their spirits from the eternal planetary prison. So off Thorne went to a subterranean adventure while I flew the rest of the crew on the Noxious Nightmare back to Venture. Back in CIC we found out that the Hawkwoods and our native guide had been wisely frozen before they pushed a button somewhere and exploded the ship mistaking the Fusion reactors for an espresso machine.

RIght. Soon after Thorne did his VooDoo and freed a billion dead lizard men, an undead space dragon showed up at the outer edge of the system piloted by Captain Space Liche Pirate who was pisssed they couldn’t eat the psychic energy of the planet.

We jumped the hell away from that nonsense.

So Magic. I need to learn it. Because Space Liches and crap.

I need to practice the Lotus position and try to listen to Thornes explainations about Mystical Chakra concuntrums and Ley forces of the cosmic balance whositswhatever. I fucking hated spirituality courses. Maybe if I can get though that tome on Ethical Spiritualy I’ll be in the right mindset to understand what the blighted hell’s he is blathering on about.

In the Tunnels

This one notices a glint of metal down a side corridor. Cordelia says there is a metal spider that they avoid. The area is filled with metallic webs. Unfortunately Khiron gets stuck and the metal spider attacks, coming out from the wall. It cannot be. The wall is not real and this one is able to slip into a surprisingly large chamber. The spider is defeated. Examination of the chamber reveal several bundles of webs, the spider’s victims. One moves and Caitlyn phases him out of the web.
Roofo is simple in the head. He claims that Arachris (priest of Set) was going to sacrifice Skillvashra (pretty girl) and Roofo wanted to save her. But he got lost and was captured by the spider. He agrees to lead us to the Temple of Set.

Roofo heads down the tunnel to where the necrophages collect the bodies. There the sheriff and his five men attack us. The sheriff is unnaturally fast. This one can barely dodge his strikes. Even then, the barest scratch injures this body as stone chips fly away. Gabriel paralyzes one of the deputies. The others manage to bring one down. This one sacrifices accuracy for power. The strike is true and the sheriff looks surprised. Then the coward calls for a retreat. He moves so fast but his deputies are not. Another one falls but two get away. We capture the paralyzed one.

The captive is belligerent and uncooperative. However he lets slip that “magics” enhance the sheriff. The thought of murdering the captive is distasteful this one. Apparently so do the others. The deputy walks away but should our paths cross again in battle, there will be a reckoning.

Further down the tunnel, Khiron finds a secret door. It is keyed to a specific object but Caitlyn is able to “summon” it out of thin air. The lion headed signet ring fits perfectly into the door to a crypt. The room appears looted as the sarcophagus is filled with riches while the bones are thrown into the corner of the room. The many coins would likely be from those captured travelers who have been sacrificed to Set. The room has a passage way out. It ends abruptly but there must be another secret door. It is heavy but it can be opened.

Beyond the door we see black curtains. Caitlyn ghost her way in but the large room is empty, the braziers unlit. Roofo says there are stairs that lead up to the manor. He says a password is needed to be safe. He teaches us the password but this one is dubious of the simpleton’s memory. Despite the password, as soon as we cross the braziers, skeletal beings appear and attack us. They are extremely fast. Khiron summons forth Moffitt who gleefully joins the battle. With his help, the party is victorious.

Below the Temple of Mitra

Zamia finds and follows the wires from the trap door to loose stone in the ceilings. Khiron disarm the traps successfully This one is standing by the entrance when nets fall upon him. There are three men in white robes with lion headed pendants. However Zamia charms them. The men are named Thorndike (seedy), Andretti (greedy), and Anslim (weedy). They claim to be acolytes of the Mitra (lies) and serve Master Cornelius (probably the real head priest they murdered). They insist on leading the party down the trapdoor. Zamia’s manipulation of their egos is quite effective.

There is a large intricate door with jewels. Greed rolls off the acolyte and Thorndike cannot hold himself back. As soon as he touches the door, a golden warrior steps out. It commands us to stop defiling the temple, naming itself Holomere Goldheart. It stabs Thorndike. Anslim attempt to flee but Zamia stop him. He too is stabbed. Wounded Thorndike calls upon foul magics to plunge the room into darkness. However Khiron counters with a chant of his own disrupting the darkness. Andretti runs away. This one attempts to block his way out but was too slow. Andretti climbs up the ladder. This one chases him, barely dodging his foul magic on the ladder.

This one ducks a pew being swung at his head when he climbs back into the temple proper. There is another besides Andretti. This one strikes true. Facial bones break and there is one less opponent. The Andretti chants and darkness fills the temple. This one will not let him escape. Moving as fast as possible in the pitch dark in a room filled with pews, this one reaches the only entrance. The darkness does not extend beyond the temple and there is no sight of Andretti. In the village, dark robed figures appear to roam. This one hides while waiting for Andretti to make a break for it. Which he does, yelling and screaming. That is short lived as a dash and a strike brings him down. The others have noticed this commotion so this one drags the dead acolyte back towards the temple. This one targets one of the sheriff’s men but the rock bounces off his armor. This one yells, “Thou shall not have the treasures of the temple!” and walk back into the darkness. This one rejoins his companions beneath the trapdoor dropping the dead acolyte before him. The others have befriended two necrophages (Ghouls named Bendris and Cordelia). They recount the tales of the land.

Centuries ago the White Tower of Mitra stood. A village grew up around it. But followers of Set called upon their gods and a Black Tower of Set appeared and destroyed the village. The gods were offended and both towers sunk into the sands. The golden doors we stand before are the entrance to the White Tower. Those seeking the treasures of the towers created a new village. They dug for buried treasures. They found something but it cursed them with ageless bodies but tying them to the land. Leaving the area will cause those from the village to turn to dust. Three stones are the source of this curse.

Goldheart returns and offers the Knucklebones of Moffitt to the most pious. Khiron takes it. Apparently it can summon the Lion of Mitra, Moffitt of the Highlands. Khiron tries it and a ghostly figure emerges. The figure is seven feet tall, wearing golden platemail, armed with a wo handed sword, with cat like golden eyes, gloden hair in twin tails, and an enormous braided handlebar moustache. He can be summoned to fight against Set.

The necrophages lead us to Phreddie, their leader. The Settites feed them the dead from the passage beyond. There is a large statue of Mitra holding a snake and a scroll tube. Khiron detects that the scroll tube is in fact not affixed. He finds four invisible gem stones and and a map.

Awakening

This one is uncertain of events. Darkness. Then an awakening. Before full activity could be resumed, this one detected people who move through a dimensional rift in space. This one attempted to follow. Then there was change. This one is certain of being called N8. This one is certain of being an artificial construct. This one is certain of metal and ceramic and plastic. This one stares in wonder at a body now of stone and sand. Confusion.

There is an attack. Three robed men swing axes. N8 remembers skills. N8 parries the first blow and dodges the others. N8 is not alone. There are others also being attacked by these robed men. Although violent, they are unskilled. N8 dances on the sand’s surface confusing its enemies. A quick blow breaks bones and sends the attacker’s axe flying. A female is under attack. N8 aims and triggers the release. N8 remembers beams of light. Instead, a rock shoots out of N8’s palm. It still strikes the attacker with deadly efficiency. Most unusual.

The defenders drive off the attackers. The man is speaking to us. His name Is Yen Getti. He says the caravan master Mon Chander is missing. He suspects collusion between the master and the bandits. Yen Getti identifies this one as a free Jinn. Is that correct? N8 has no way to refute the current reality. The others of skill are all biological: a female named Caitlyn, a female named Zamia, a male named Arden, a male named Gabriel, and a male named Khiron. The caravan is traveling from Opar to Ofir. These words mean nothing to N8. The landscape is of desert and dunes. Location? Unknown.

There is a village nearby that we retreat to. Something is amiss. After partaking of drink and food at the bar, several of the party fall ill/sleep. Poison? This one retreats to the safety of the caravans, carrying two back.

Night deepens. The camp is surrounded. Two dozen figures emerge from the darkness. A net is thrown over N8. Again, skills come back as N8 easily slips off the net and begins the dance. Khiron is attacked. He appears to lack CQC capabilities. N8 goes to assist his new companion. The words of Gabriel has power. The ill companions rise, no longer ill. The tide turns. Once again the defenders drive off the attackers. Query. What to do next?

Caitlyn's vlog

Dwight and the zombie lizard can make amazing chili, enough to put the Texarkanans traditional cuisine to shame.

We were able to free the married couple of their perpetual zombie status. The rest of the guests disintegrated, but reuniting the Swan with their bodies freed them.

Which also destroyed Ms. Mummy. So much for needing to find her phylactery thing.

We managed to converse with maintenance worker in their weird ugly masks.

Then we found the Bondage Fun Room

Which lead to the golden machine.

That machine was a bit hair raising, as it sucked out My and Dwight’s souls. Luckily Ardwen was able to do some time shenanigans, coupled with Dwight’s magic-mumbo-jumbo and well, shooting it, caused it to slowly fall apart. Explosively.

We next proceeded to the clone decanting chamber. One looked rather like Chezza. Another ahem well endowed gentleman emerged. We had an interesting conversation, followed by him ripping a tear in reality and wandering off to his next engagement sans clothing.

…

I wish I could even make this nonsense up.

Next there were costume ball cannibals back in the gift room. The Cavalcade of Inane sallies forth. They foolishly brought knives to a firearms fight.

I’ve also got a bit of a note about the Marquis of Aoli and the Lady Torc. I believe those where the previously mentioned blissful newlyweds newly awakened from their slumber.

Final location we discovered was a giant Aboritum. Mr. Trundleball was able to map out the area and show me video of patrolling Orchizoids and a trapped…. Man? Adonis thing both trapped and engaging in a conjugal relationship with all of the ivy in the universe.

I think.

I’m still kind of hoping this is the result of some REALLY good drugs someone slipped me in the mess earlier. I’m assuming Ensign Cambridge. He does like the prank wars. I’m thinking graphene-transpolymeride in his underwear might be a good reply – it would turn into goo in the presence of the microwave after all. Seems appropriate.

Caitlyn's vlog

So there we were, facing a biomass on the dead planet. Thorne mouths off with a ‘Well, that’s that then’ and off he jumps through the Lizard’s portal. Leaving us without his psychic VooDoo staff +10 against getting your brain eaten by ghosts.

We all jumped through the portal after him following a comical moment (laugh track optional) of looking at each other in disbelief. Bloody hell and other insults to his lineage and bearing were bellowed.

We then spent a spot of time faffing about with the 20th century gizmos in the warehouse; a robot man, paintings, video disks. I found the pyramid control widget and started scanning the whatever out of it as it had…. blank spots lacking EM. Specifically there was a little black box of some sort.

I need to snag one of those to disassemble.

Whilst all of this was going on, Thorns were playing with some painting. He eventually mutters come look at this then and we found our self in a painting facing a woman having a bit of a bondage moment. Khiron somehow deftly avoided Thorn’s grasping and avoided the matter/space transferal painting.

So some more puttering about, interrogating whatshername, the boys boggling over a bit of nudity and off we went (Khiron in tow) to the next room.

Oh! I almost forgot, some cowhand that the group met elsewhere showed up folded in a box. He made a big deal about my skinsuit leaving my ankles exposed or some such retrograde neobarb wankery. The group seem pleased to see him there as Thornes are missing in action.

sighs

Of we went to meet a blue demon woman who was looking for ‘unique statues’. This began manderings and wanderings through;

an Escher painting where the non zero g rated people got a bit iffy.

A reception / cloak room with a talking peacock.

A wedding filled with dead attendees and the happy couple in stasis.

A Gift room with a Swan and a river of wine containing the souls of the happy couple and the officiator of the event.

A stone hallway filled with orchids.

The actual gift room filled with rotting things, an asymmetrical chandelier and a locked door.

I hopped through the door only to find a mummy woman named Safferonia Wort. She wants me to find her phylactery or whatever and destroy the golden machine.

I really have no idea what is happening, and beginning to suspect one of the boys put something exceptionally fun in the Whiskey – and clearly Olivia is in on it or she’d let me know. Time to run a diagnostic when I get back.

Is it normal for one to decide to run Neural diagnostics on the ships Imprint when hallucinating?

Right. Off to the next… thing in this place. Cavorting Roman mannikins I assume.

A ponderance. If Mr Cowhand is going to demand ‘Mr. Dwight’ should I reciprocate with ‘Captain Ser Hamilton-Smythe’? Or see if he’s reserving such things just for me?

Carter background data

The Voidship War

In the early stages of Terran expansion there was a splinter philosophical group known as ‘Evolvists’ who migrated in mass to Sol b (a brown dwarf star orbiting Sol prime out in the Kuiper belt). This group’s main focus was opposition to humanities expansion to other terrestrial worlds, fearing the elimination of proto-intelligent native species.

This group quickly made inroads into AI, neural mapping and bio machinery. They gave rise to the ‘Voidship’ class of vessel – what amounted to a self-replicating, intelligent bio-machine.

For whatever reason, the voidships declared war on humanity, destroying the Evolvist enclave and then began a string of vicious conflicts with the rest of human space. The war took over a decade and was ‘to the knife’ in every respect. Several colonies were destroyed before the main nest at Sol b was destroyed. The disturbing question that remain was what happened to the Evolvists? Many believe that the Voidships were in actually a violent Evolvist faction, given that the central voidship nest incorporated the central consciousness repository of the group, containing all uploaded individuals as well as their central AI nexus.

In the end though Node alpha was destroyed and there has not been a Voidship sighting in over 20 years. Observers are confident of humanities victory given that part of the entities lifecycle involves spectacular deep atmospheric dives into Jovian class planets.

The First Contact Conflict

The first contact war was caused by a simple misunderstanding, based on Humanities (apparently unique) use of the Einstein-Rosen bridge technology. The long distance exploration vessel ‘Endeavour’ arrived in a new star system, Mu Arae. As it turns out Mu Arae is a grav-lane nexus system for the polity knows as The Triumph of the Buul!’tcha, and as such is heavily militarized. Their reaction to an unknown vessel appearing in the middle of their star system, conforming to no known ID codes made them assume a pirate or assault vessel with some sort of failing stealth system. As such, they attacked without any warning. That would have been the end of it if the Endeavour had not been able to send off an emergency drone before destruction.

Fearing another Voidship nest, the Military Governor of outpost R-15 send a full reconnaissance in force. This resulted in a spectacular full naval engagement, with assault marines breaching Buul!’tcha Destroyers, multiple vessel casualties and all sorts of nonsense. Admiral McTimms withdrew after the mutual pummeling, but there was still no understanding what had happened. This pattern would repeat itself in the Mu Arae region, as exploration vessels would get ‘ambushed’ without warning, and then Dominion forces would arrive to smash the place.

From the Buul!’tcha perspective (not helped by their naturally xenophobic tendencies) unidentified scouts of non-galactic standard design kept appearing in impossible places followed by a military ‘raid’ of unknown reason.

From the Dominion perspective exploration vessels were getting ambushed without warning justifying reprisals.

An unholy mess in other words.

This went on for several years, until a Terran vessel encountered an actual Buul!’tch border region, who opened comms instead of assuming hostile intent and firing on arrival.

From that moment Terra became aware of galactic civilization, and the Galactics became aware of a new polity completely isolated from the standard grav-lane trade network equipped with a completely novel technology stack.

5 weeks of boredom

Venture, this is security chief Olis. Any changes… I mean significant changes to report since yesterday?
I see. How many days do we have until arrival?
Three… more… weeks.
Alright, this is driving me nuts. When I was in the Khallan campaign, we were stuck in place for a long time.. We had a lot of time to kill. Oh, the nobles kept us busy with crap work. But even then, there were still more time to kill. We practically had a little village. Sure, we had cobblers and coopers and smiths. That’s all necessary for the campaign. And camp followers, of course. But I’m talking about farming. We had a little vegetable patch we were tending. Nothing fancy but things that will grow fast, like radishes. We had a mason. He actually made bricks from that crappy mud. And we turned those bricks into an oven. And the baker made those flat breads in that oven. They sold well. We mostly kept those activities secret from the nobles. They would only muck it up. Anyway, the point is that even bored, we had a lot we could do. Here on this ship, it’s more like a sailing ship, but even smaller. We can’t go outside of the ship to fish. Wait, unless there is something to fish on the outside?
No, I didn’t think so.
You’re right, I need a project. Let’s look at this sword I picked up in the Lantern Dungeon. Tell me what it’s made from… in words I would understand.
Hmm… so nothing really special about it despite being used by a millenia old golem.
OK, next project. Armor. Tell me about the armor and space suits the normal crew would wear on your ships. I know about those skin tight suits that the others wear.
No, I don’t like them because it makes me feel too exposed. But I am curious how something as thin as a woolen shirt can provide protection like mail.
Nano-weave? So thin and really tough.
Venture, you’ve been able to create the ballistic armor I picked up on Khiron’s world with relative ease. Does that mean the material is easier to manufacture?
I see, less sophisticated. So what do the marines on your ships wear when going into combat?
Stop. What is this battle armor you speak of? Show me on the screen.
Oooohh, now that’s what I call armor. Venture, do you have the capability to manufacture one of those?
Yes, I would like one of those made. Wait. Is that all the same or can it be modified?
Well, depending on what a soldier does, we often wear slightly different armor. Oh, and on my world, it also depended on how much money you could spend. Those from noble houses had better equipment while peasants did not. But light infantry, often armed with spears, wore lighter armor for better movement. Heavy infantry, like myself, wore mail and used heavy weapons. But we couldn’t move as far or as fast due to the armor. Archers were very lightly armored, and even then, spaulders would get in the way of archery so they never had any.
Yes, both functional and cosmetic modifications would be nice. I suck at drawing but something tells me you are a much better artist than I.

So if we get back to Venture, willing to spend 2XP to have a battlesuit made by Venture. Will count as Battlesuit (page 254 of Cypher System Rulebook).

There are no nice things.

We arrived at a lovely main sequence red dwarf a mere 5 weeks after our departure from Phoenix Empre space. The trip was uneventful, other than Thorne playing with the reality Settings on the VR rig again.

Thorne’s latest ghost has been retailing us with tales from his species history. One of the more interesting ones was about how they would capture Astral Kraken beasts and convert them into living space zeppelins. People would ride in cupolas borne by the beasts and travell asterally to new star systems.

I have no idea how anything works any more, as that sounds like the sub plot to at least 6 different major novels from the golden age of science fantasy.

Regardless, we made to to the red dwarf named Chofa – an utterly dead system. The planet has an inordinate quantity of debris, with all planetary signs of civilization having been consumed by Jungle. Interestingly, there is no real evidence of fauna, just riotous flora.

As our survey continued we came across a spy sattelight keeping an eye on the planet. We jammed its signal party way through. So there is that. After a bit of conversation we brought it on board for analysis. It was biorganic, and as such I executed general order 043, engaged the object with weapons on hand and began a deep scan of all systems. So far no evidence of infection. Venture will continue to scan for anomalies as aprioiate.,

Excitement ended we made our way to the planet itself – evidentially a giant spiritual sinkhole of horrors.

So naturally we made planetfall on a shuttle that runs based on the stern will of some mage from 1000 years ago.

I really can’t make this nonsense up. Any sane editor would tell me to piss off with this nonsense, and advise me to not self-publish.

To continue, we made planetfall and found a massive active gate to the asteral realm.

Multiple members of the group sense a Great Disturbance in the Force, and are convinced of horribleness which I mentioned earlier. Evidentially the trapped spirits try to constantly possess anything and everything that comes into range. The plant life has been permanent ally scarred as a result. Luckily between Khiron and Thorne they were able to erect Intellect Fortresses or somesuch to protect us from the bad VooDooin.

And now there is a giant mass of biomass heading toward us. Odds that it will be suggested we hop through the portal instead of doing the sensible thing and retreating to the ship and bombarding the region to suppress the possessed vines……?

Olis recordings, goddamn planar travels

We are in the new star system Chofa, the home system of the lizard people. The planet Lytha is a giant spirit sink hole. It is dead.

Something about spy satellite and the others are talking about danger and explosions and not on my ship and stuff. They do something and they do eventually bring it aboard to examine it. It’s a little odd looking and Gabriel puts words to this feeling: Chagma. Uh, oh. Arden object reads it and it is not good. He reports it is part biological and thinking. Carter immediately jettisons it and uses the rail gun to create a spectacular explosion.

Thorne frees the lizard man from its own turmoil of returning to the planet. Unfortunately the spirit does not make wise choices. It attempts to possess Carter and Thorne is forced to ‘dismiss’ it, whatever that means.

We head down to the planet but Thorne detects a mental intrusion that the rest of us would not be able to resist. We retreat and Thorne attempts a ritual to protect us (2XP). He powers a staff with the ritual and we head down to the surface.

Once down on the planet, we head to the gate. It turns out it’s not just any gate but an astral portal. A lengthy discussion happens on what to do next. Thorne thinks agents of unlife come to this planet to destroy. The inhabitants escaped (?) through the magical portal. The unlife could not follow (could not figure out how to operate the portal?). They left things like the satellite to watch and observe.

I’m not keen on going through the portal. But Thorne does make a point that the more they understand planar travel, the better chance of returning me home. Of course, this is contingent upon Thorne sending me home. I’m not entirely sure about where their confidence comes from.

KindleNomicon Audio+Text entry - Thorne

We’re not entirely certain what lesson might be learned from this unfortunate Lizard-man Geas. Don’t search for spirits? Don’t Interact with them? Obviously that’s not an option for us. In a sense, this compulsion is something worth doing; transporting the remains of a lost soul across the galaxy so that it might finally know peace. But we hate having to do a thing. Give us an opportunity and we’ll jump at it, tell us we have to do a thing we probably would have done otherwise and we balk. Maybe there’s a lesson in that somewhere? The idea of free will is more important than the actuality of it? To perceive ones own actions as unconstrained is the actual desired state, even more than the truth of that perception?

Speaking of unconstrained action, we had a genuine caper! This was brought on by the unfortunate realization that Gromes wasn’t where we left him and his com signal was coming from Moorpoint – home of the Gargoyle tourism bureau and the Churchiest place on this rock. This led to a Geas fueled argument about whether or not it’s our responsibility to go and rescue him. Turns out, it is. So we did.

So, here’s the breakdown on the steps of the Great Church infiltration:

1. Seduce a priest and steal his frock and knowledge of the church.
Complications arose when we discovered the priest was a glorified repairman and in order to pose as his crew we needed to know how or if he would go about hiring non-church types. Because we left him naked and muddled, he called the police. They were there when we returned. Despite our fabulous cover story they were suspicious of us and so we had to erase their memories of our arrival. This worked, but left them with a nude priest in the back of their car, whom they didn’t notice for some time.

2. Jumpsuits for everyone

3. Looking up and forging documents for a churchy repair crew.

4. Turning up dressed as a priest and work crew with forged documents.(it worked! Also, yay blasphemy!)

5. Finding the access tunnels and using them to make our way to the cells.

6. Detonating a powerful EMP device, disabling all unshielded electronics in the city, including loads of really cheap cybernetic augmentations the Crimson hound guards were loaded with. This led to lots of unfortunate dying on their part, but also some timely disability for us. We lied to them, a lot, and got our friend Gromes out amidst the chaos.

7. ???

8. Profit

We’ve struggled with situations like this in the past, but for the first time, we really seem to be coming together as a group. We’re proud of everyone and proud we rescued Gromes. Despite the flagrant law breaking and possible accidental murdering of scores of augmented guards, this feels like a great moment for us.

Olis recordings, in the lantern cave

Our request to Venture for our heavy weapons was accepted but… it’s going to take a few days before Venture can make a capsule that can be dropped from orbit. So we decide to continue exploring the lantern cave.

I turn the central sarcophagus to point at the Indigo alcove. A five foot diameter metal cylinder rises from the floor. Inside are crushed bones and clothes and a pouch filled with ancient coins and a ruby.

Next we point the sarcophagus to the Yellow alcove. The cylinder appears and others call it an elevator. Some of the others can squeeze in two at a time but with my bulk, I descend alone. Down below there is a chamber with twenty foot ceilings. The walls are covered in reliefs of androgynous humanoids. I think they are paying homage to something? A passage out is blocked by a block of stone, perhaps a triggered trap? Carter phases through and reports nothing unusual so Thorne portals us past the stone block. Carter is attacked by some sort of tenticular monster with eyes but we make short work of it. We enter a large chamber with a central pillar. There are other exits to the right and left. As we approach the pillar, the room gets cold, really cold. The pillar is covered in frost and something else, which turns out to be the frost moss we (Thorne and myself) hand encountered on Mount Bubi so long ago on Aldamere. We warn the others away from it. We can see that the central pillar has indentations. I think the right side one is a wash basin. Was this someone’s bed chambers? Further exploration does reveal stone bed and a stone armoire. It is a bedroom. We find the skeletal remains of a body. Gabriel’s sharp eyes find a silver charm and two wands. Thorne claims they are minor magical items [Cyphers].

On the opposite side of the room is a red pedestal with a black stone egg. Thorne of course has to touch it and it turns into an elemental… a very angry elemental. Somehow Thorne manages to use his Kindlenomicon to understand its rumblings. Apparently it is pretty angry at being stuck here for a long time. It cannot leave the room as there is some sort of threshold. Thorne creates a portal out of the room to bypass the wards, and I walk through it to demonstrate the portal’s safety, and the elemental follows through. It rumbles in joy (I think) and sinks into the floor to go wherever that elementals go. We return to the sarcophagus room.

We point the sarcophagus to the Green alcove. Grinding sounds are heard. We remove the stone slab from where the cylinder usually emerges. It is stuck below about thirty feet down. Gabriel ties me a rope and I get lowered to see if I might be able to free it. I manage to do so but almost fall. Just then, I catch sight of something scurrying up the shaft. I cannot avoid them and their touch burns. I can hear hissing sound as parts of my armor bubble [medium armor reduced to light armor from damage). They are exuding some sort of acid it seems. And of course, one of them touches the rope and it breaks [Free Intrusion]. I take a hard landing thirty feet below. I am confronted by two giant spider like thing, only with much meatier legs and the body is a giant eye. I pick myself up the floor and manage to stomp one, but they are tougher than they look. I can hear fighting above as I try to avoid these spider things sharp claws. Eventually I see the telltale signs of Thorne’s portal opening above my head. The others join the fray and we make short work of the spider things, including the third one that joined.

KindleNomicon Audio+Text entry - Thorne

There is an important conceptual gulf between what things are supposed to be, and what they can become.

Example: A human body is meant to contain one “soul” with one “identity” but ours contains more. We have come to believe that there is a a considerable conceptual gulf between individual and plural existence, and because we became a plurality instinctively, we now encompass that gulf. Because we encompass that gulf, we touch the place in the universe where all other plural beings exist, conceptually. This gulf exists as an often physical presence, we feel it lurking just out of sight, constantly. We have visited in fact. The “mental labyrinth” that we retreated to with our fellows when struggling against the demon on the Venture was a construct that exists in that place, and not one of our individual creation.

This notion can be expounded upon to encompass worlds. A world has a default state of intentionality. It takes peculiar events (magic, vast cataclysms, huge fucking bombs) to nudge it out of this well trodden path, but we have seen examples of this in every world we’ve visited. Yen Enoth, the time fraught tower in broken Earth, the necropolis of the Necromancer where the soil was made of meat. In these places, the gulf of improbability yawns. Where the laws are loose and the walls are thin. We have touched it enough that we have begun to experiment in it’s use: teleportation, wormholes, things like these.

Now we have found a new location that manipulates these colossal forces. This time almost casually. These ruins of “the 3rd Epoch” seem to suggest that these “Aaqa” weaved the fabric of causality at their whim. But perhaps not. These destinations seem special to them. Temples and tombs. Perhaps the gateways were reserved for particularly important locations? The latest portal was of considerably different construction than any we have previously encountered. It had space inside, a sort of hallway, and in it lurked some monstrous agent of the Unlife. Was this construction a defensive precaution? Was it an accident? Some mutation of powerful magics left over time? We really must find out. We should try and find a way to tear it from inside the portal, so that it can be studied and possibly destroyed.

We must also try and determine the nature of the smoke spirits that sought to unmake us. Although not of the unlife, their perception of us “mud creatures” was such that they were compelled to try and tear us apart. While not inherently malicious, the distinction is academic. Although, we imagine a situation in which our sapience is adequately demonstrated to them and the inherently harmful practice of trying to see what’s inside of us discouraged.

Lastly, we begin to see a process through which we might come to more fully master the forces governing causality, at least in regards to location. Time remains the purview of Arden, for the moment. Thinking about distance as a limiting factor was misguided. The multiverse is as much an idea as it is a physical reality. Physical, scientific constraints, such as distance, are important for maintaining the function of such a system, but need not impede upon our ability to traverse it. We must simply know the notion of a thing in order to go there. The magics needed to get causality to agree with this concept will be more complicated than anything we have previously attempted, but the path is revealed. We will begin to unravel these mysteries.

Olis recordings; mindlink first, then move out

What the hell was that thing?

It began at the portal. It is a black and shiny, like glass, only black, and encased in the blue jade. It is inside the mountain. To get to it, Thorne portals us all into the cavern. Then Thorne just activates the portal and steps through. It looks like he is stepping through oil. The surface changes and ripples but becalms once he is through. Foolish to let the mage go through first. I immediately follow. It is a strange sensation as it feels like I am trying to move through water, pitch dark water. But then there is pain. I am raked in the chest by something that cuts through the modern armor. I strike out but whatever it is moves aside. I realize that the others will pass through after me, while this thing ambushes us. I must not let it. Again it strikes but my warrior’s instinct allows me to dodge its blows at the last minute. Unfortunately my own counter strike misses. Again the thing attacks and I am savaged. I can feel the life leaking out of me. One of my boots is filling with blood. I must flee. I try to move forward and stagger out of the darkness into a hallway. The wind is howling. I wipe the blood out of my eyes and see that Thorne, Carter, and Arden are here. How? Did they pass by me in the darkness? I focus and the pain retreats. Thorne is by my side, using their healing arts on me. I can barely hear them in this wind. Their clothing is also ripped and they bear the marks of injury. Carter and Arden appear unscathed. How?

There is a maelstrom in the hallway, and out of that arise four smoke demons. Thorne manages to hold one at bay, but the others are quick and deadly. You can almost feel the hatred coming off of them. They are fast and nigh impossible to hit. Through sheer luck, Arden and I land a few blows on the demons but I am not in the best condition to fight these demons. We are also missing our heavy weapons. Arden and I bear the brunt of their attacks. Carter takes a few hits but appears to be holding his own. At least he’s cursing up a storm like the sailor he is. There is a way forward but the demons will pursue us. The only way back is through the portal and the thing in the darkness. If we wait too long to retreat, the thing will kill us. Although Throne has one demon in his thrall, none of the others have fallen. I call for a tactical retreat as Thorne detonates the very air around the demons. Arden staggers through the portal. I hope he does not fall prey to it in the darkness. I try to pull Thorne but they are busy igniting the air. I cannot leave them so I cover their back. I scream over the winds that we must retreat, but a kind of mania has taken over Thorne. I think they are saying, “We can take them. They are ours.” A concussive blast almost throws me to the ground. It has been enough as the smoke demons dissipate. But are they dead? Or will they return? The wind continues to howl in the room but my own rasping breath is louder in my ears. We cannot stay! Finally Thorne relents and moves back toward the portal. When it is my turn, I am prepared for it. I duck and roll as soon as I enter the darkness. I felt the thing’s attack but evade it. I push forward and stagger back into the portal cavern.

This has been a bad day but it was not my day to die. That day is yet to come. I tell Carter that we need our weapons from Venture. Then there will be payback.